Daughter of Kings
by Callisto Star
Summary: One child was stolen from her crib nearly thirteen years ago... now youmas wander unchecked, the sailor senshi remain divided, and a certain child of Rohan remains in great danger... LotRSM True to Tolkien. R & R.
1. Prologue: The Storm Breaks

AN: This is an idea that has been festering in my head for awhile now, and I have been forced to pay attention. Gomen, forgive me, I really shouldn't be starting another LotR/SM fic. (If you need an idea for one, email me, I have a few ideas started that you could have). My two old ones (as well as those fics from other categories which I really need to get back to) will take preference when it comes time for updates, but I hope to start updating much more often. We shall see lol.

Without further ado, please read, review, and enjoy!

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"_Come away, O human child!_

_To the waters and the wild_

_With a faery, hand in hand,_

"_For the world's more full of weeping_

_than you can understand."_

-"The Stolen Child," William Butler Yeats

The night-light shone softly beside the cradle casting a tiny island of light into the darkness. The patch of hair upon the head of the sleeping infant gleamed softly in the half-darkness. Outside, rain pattered gently upon the pavement and thunder grumbled lazily in the distance.

A woman leaned silently on the doorframe, smiling down upon her sleeping child. Only two weeks ago this beautiful angel had entered their happy home. And it was during these hours of peaceful night that her mother could truly appreciate and simply adore her child. She reflected on her joy and exuberant thanks and prayed that this golden-haired child would be the first of many to bless their home.

The low rumble of the storm grew ominously closer. Ikuko heard her husband's footfalls echoing from downstairs. In her mind's eye, she affectionately imagined him striding across the rooms, switching off the lights, checking that the appliances were off, and finally locking the front door for the night.

A great bolt of lightning suddenly fell from the sky and shattered the peaceful night. Ikuko jumped in surprise with a slight yelp. She quickly clamped her hands over her mouth to avoid waking her sleeping baby. The thunder boomed through the night. She tried to compose herself once more, nervously laughing at her childishness. It was only a thunderstorm. Why was she scared witless as if she were a six-year-old?

The lightning cracked and the thunder boomed once more. Ikuko began to move away from the doorframe but was startled by a cry from the baby's crib.

She hurried back inside to comfort her daughter as she whimpered in her sleep. Crack! Boom! She smoothed the blankets and caressed her baby, and the child quieted. However, her sleep became restless as she began to toss and turn wildly. Ikuko looked on with worry.

Crack! Boom! BOOM! Something shuddered in the front of the house.

BOOM! Why was she so terrified? It was only a thunderstorm.

BOOM! CRACK! Kami, where was Kenji?!

The entire house shook once more. In a fit of terror and relying only on some unknown instinct, she shoved the pink-frosted door shut, bolted it, and secured a chair under the handle. With shaking hands, she lifted the whimpering child from the cradle and took her in her arms.

Crack! Boom! Lightning briefly illuminated the room and the terrified faces of its occupants. Several very heavy somethings were moving and banging and stamping downstairs. There was a loud pounding upon the steps, as if a herd of metal clad elephants were running up it, and the heavy footfalls drew ever closer...

Subconsciously, the mother squeezed her child closer and backed into the corner by the window, instinctively trying to keep her child hidden in the corner. The pounding reached the pink-frosted door...

BOOM! The wood visibly shuddered.

BOOM! Ikuko closed her eyes in terror.

BOOM! CRACK! The wood splintered completely, and Ikuko opened her eyes in shock, bending over her child and shielding her with her arm. Crack! Boom! A brief flash of lightning illuminated the terrors that stood in the doorway--beastly disgusting creatures from the realm of a child's nightmare, covered in blood and grime and armed to the tooth. The nearest let out a low inhuman growl as he advanced...

Ikuko screamed.

They were among her. They were upon her! Even as she tried to push her child completely behind her, she felt something cold enter her gut. She looked down to see a horrible piece of black metal sticking out from below her ribs. A redness was already spreading up her blouse. Then the pain hit her.

Kami.

With eyes watering in pain, she looked up to see her beautiful room crowded with these hideous creatures, all shoving forward to reach their victim. Something shoved Ikuko aside as it reached for the bundle behind her arms. Ikuko screamed at the thought of any harm coming to her beloved child and fought back, kicking, shoving, and biting with all her might. But the pain throbbed, and her strength was rapidly slipping away as the redness spread.

Something heavy cleaved her skull and she was shoved to the ground. The bundle was snatched from her arms. The monsters were chanting and yelling triumphantly. They had succeeded, they had taken the great power that Master had foreseen across the dimensions. The child was screaming. The pain was gone. The rain was pounding. The creatures were booming. The redness pooling. Light fading. Fire. Burning. Hiss. Darkness.

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AN: Well, what do you think? I don't want to spoil what will happen (but I guarantee that all the senshi and many others will be involved), so please review and keep an eye out for ch. 2! Thank you minna-chan! Namarie.

-Calli-chan

P.S. For any LotR fans, be warned that I follow the book. And the Silmarillion. Hard core. mwhahahahaha!


	2. The Golden Fields

AN: Thank you everyone for the response to the first chapter! Happy New Year!

Without further ado, here is Chapter 2. Apologies for the short length, but these first few chapters will be inevitably short. Longer chaps are definitely on the way! Enjoy.

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Laughter echoed across the wind-blown plains of Rohan.

With glee an eleven-year-old scrambled up the grassy slope to escape his "fiendish" seven-year-old sister. He looked around in mock-horror, pretending to be lost and despairing, and finally dived behind the stables when he heard her giggle approaching.

"Where are you, you devilish creature?" she cried tauntingly, barely keeping a straight face. "My entire eored has surrounded this stable and destroyed the rest of your host. You will ravage these lands no more!"

It was a common game among the children of the Rohirrim—eored and orc. But of course the orc was always alone and supposed to act cowardly, hiding where the eored would ambush him.

"Come out, come out, Eomer Orc!" she called as she circled the area cautiously, holding out a small woody stick as she advanced in the wrong direction.

Eomer couldn't help it. A giggle escaped his lips.

His sisters spun around with a laugh and a smile and ran towards the pile of hay behind the stables. Jabbing into the hay with the stick, she uncovered human hair and a laughing face. "I win again!" she cried victoriously.

But Eomer didn't let her off so easily. Still laughing hysterically, he leapt up out of the way and tackled her to the ground, throwing bits of hay all over dirty face and hair. She spat out bits and stuck out her tongue. "I still win."

"Not if you can't catch me!" declared Eomer as he jumped up and began to run towards the plains. His sister cried in indignation, but in a moment was up and following, running swiftly among the tall grasses and laughing with glee through the golden plains of Rohan.

-o-o-o-o-

From high on the hill above, a mother watched the two tiny figures with a gentle smile upon her face. So perfect, as every brother and sister should be. Loving, caring, always the older watching out for the younger… She could scarcely remember a time when there wasn't another golden head bobbing behind Eomer's. But surely they had been separate once…

She shook off the strange dark memories, and she was fondly reminded of her own childhood with Theoden. Her older brother always took special care for his youngest sister. She glanced in the direction of Meduseld in the distance, where he would be listening to the drone of countless advisors and no doubt wishing only for a long free ride upon Snowmane across the plain. Theodwyn laughed at the thought, shaking her head with fondness of her older brother.

-o-o-o-o-

Yet a thousand miles away, events were happening which would change their very lives. A Ring was found. A Ranger was on patrol. A Wizard was worried. A Darkness was brewing.

A Battle had ended. An Enemy was victorious. And a Message was coming that would shatter their idyllic lives.

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AN: For your information, the year is currently 3002. The setting is Aldburg in the East-mark of Rohan. If this means nothing to you, that's fine, but some obsessive people (like me lol) may be able to put two and two together with this information lol. ;)

Sorry I can't do personal Review Responses today. Will do next time! As for pairings, I have no idea if there will even be one. For now, I am focusing on the core plot and we'll see where it goes. Thank you so much and please review!

-Calli-chan

P.S. If you're interested, please check out my other LotR/SM fics: "The Gathering Starlight" and "Niirer en Ithil'Quessir". Maybe I'll start doing previews for them here or for this fic there. Hmm… Thanks!


	3. The Grim Shadows

AN: Perhaps because I'm not constantly consulting slips of paper covered in notes, I'm finding this fic a lot easier to write than my others. I just sit down at the computer and boom! Type. We'll see how long that lasts. ;D

Opens basically where it left off: A certain captain of Rohan reflecting on that same day mentioned in the last chapter. R R.

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"_Hope fades,_

_Into the world of night._

_Through shadows falling,_

_Out of memory and time."_

-Annie Lennox, "Into the West"

A grim face rode hard across the golden plains, leading a great host of men. The pounding of horses' hooves echoed in his ears, his mind, his heart… War. Always riding to war. Never reaching that peace they fought for each day. His frown seemed to be permanently etched upon his features, the smiles of his childhood forgotten and erased. _"Ever since that fateful day,"_ he thought, letting his mind wander as the plains rushed by.

Seventeen years. Had it really been that long? Seventeen years since he'd last felt bliss, free from cares. Never again would he enjoy that happiness. Seventeen years ago the message came that shattered their idyllic life in Aldburg of the East-mark.

He remembered the details with remarkable clarity. His mother had been administering dinner after having called the siblings in from their play. "The house was still full of laughter," he recalled, and the bright shining faces of the two women he loved most in all the world—his sister Eowyn and his mother Theodwyn.

Then came the pounding at the door. The weary, grisly messenger had stumbled in, breathing heavily and refusing all of his mother's attempts to feed or aid him; he had begged her to let him speak his message.

"Lord Eomund," he had managed with ragged breaths. Theodwyn's face had blanched at the mention of her husband, gone to battle, and she feared the worst.

"The orcs… we followed too far… Emyn Muil… they ambushed us… they killed so many." Managing to control one deep breath, he had steadied himself and knelt before Theodwyn.

"Milady, they killed him." Theodwyn had closed her eyes in horror, her face white as a sheet, but she had forced herself to remain strong and standing in front of her children.

"Thus is the life of a soldier," she had murmured softly. "Tell me, did any survive?"

"Only a few, milady. The others headed to Edoras to inform the king. Lord Eomund fought bravely and saved all whom he could; when he realized we were overwhelmed he called for retreat, to regroup and reattack later. But he himself would not back off until he saw all his men safely on their way, and by then it was too late." A tear slipped down the man's horrible face. "Ma'am, he was the best captain I've ever had for all my years. I want you to know that he died mostly honorably, saving those he could, and taking as many of the devils with him when it was too late."

"Thank you," his mother had replied numbly, as the man had mournfully stumbled to the door.

Neither he nor Eowyn had grasped completely the meaning of the words that day. "But the laughter had shattered from then on, never to return," he realized.

Theodwyn's color never returned to her face after that day. She remained pale and cold, an empty vessel, a shell without a soul. She continued with the daily routines, but joy, smiles, and laughter were gone from their lives.

Before long, she began to waste away. The local wives did what they could, but none could cure Theodwyn's emptiness, her cold fever of the heart. Within only a few months from that shattering message, Eomer and Eowyn became orphans.

'Play' lost all meaning to the children that were forced to grow up too fast. Their uncle, King Theoden, became their kindly father, and their cousin Theodred, thirteen years Eomer's elder, became their protective older brother. From Theodred, Eomer became a master at sword, bow, and lance. Eowyn, too, perfected her skills, frankly becoming a stronger warrior than many of his men. But never again did the children have a mother to care for them, never again did they race through the golden fields laughing and smiling.

"Now to wield a sword rather than a playful stick," Eomer thought sadly. "Now to embody Eored and Orc rather than just imagine it. If only there could have been a few more years of play."

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Several millennia and a billion-light years away, the grim expression of the captain was reflected in the faces of a group of female warriors in a modern city. There were four in total, all little older than the tender age of fifteen. Their faces were weary, dirtied with scars and burns, and their eyes revealed the hazy nightmare of their lives.

"We were too late again," said the blonde as she looked mournfully at the smoking remains of another building. Like the other three, her short fuku was torn and dirtied, destroyed in many areas.

"The Negaverse," said the tall brunette, shaking her fist angrily at the sky. "How many lives? How many more must you take! They are nothing to you!"

"We must continue our search," said the raven-haired female, breathing heavily. "I will consult the fires again…"

"Mars, the fires will show us nothing new! We will never find her! We've been searching for so long, but nothing! Always nothing!"

"Almost three years now," said the blue-haired girl sadly, looking down at her battered computer. "Three years of searching, of battles, of losses, of new youmas…"

"I was proud and even excited to become a Sailor Senshi," remarked the raven-haired girl nostalgically. "But now…"

"Our world is hell," agreed the brunette.

"This whole world is hell," added the blue-clad girl. "The Negaverse rules in all but name. The only one who could save us is the one they want, the one they have also been searching for for years."

"Perhaps we should seek out the other warriors rumored to fight for this city. With only our four, we can win battles. But we cannot win the war."

"Perhaps it would be best to unite," murmured the tall brunette.

"Some speak of other senshi, Uranus and Neptune, though their true intentions do not seem clear," remarked the blue-haired female. "Some even speak in whispers of a Pluto and Saturn."

"And there is Tuxedo Kamen," added the raven-haired senshi.

"Yes, but we know his intentions," said the brunette. "He fights against the youma. But it may be that the Negaverse wants him too. And with every passing day, he grows weaker as the Earth itself wastes away under the darkness."

"Perhaps…" echoed the blonde leader. "What other hope have we in this skeleton of a city, with so few lives left to protect?" The others agreed sadly. "I'll consult with Artemis, and we'll begin our search tomorrow at dawn."

With a final nod of comradeship, the four split into opposite directions and reached safety before the shadows of night could completely claim the city. Not two blocks away, another youma ran amok through the night. Screams and maniacal laughter echoed through the darkness, but the senshi's greatest ally had fled: the sun.

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Similar shadows began to dance across the black walls of Orthanc as the fading sun slipped below the horizon. As the red orb lowered, darkness soon completely claimed the lands of Isengard. But the wizard was not to be disturbed.

His eyes were unfocused, staring deeply into the black orb on a pedestal, not seeing the world around him. His fingers danced above the sphere as he sought his answers.

"A great war is coming," murmured a strange voice from the back of the wizard's throat. "A war like this land has not yet seen. The Darkness of Many Colors will triumph at last!" (1) His eyelids fluttered shut.

"Perhaps it is best that my mission failed, all those years ago. Orcs, yes master. I sent unperfected orcs on such a grave mission. Surprisingly, they fared rather well. My sources say that they found the child. But they were careless when returning to this world. The stupid creatures were careless when they returned through the door I had created."

A strange laugh echoed through the chamber. "Yes, master, you guess well! It was the baseborn horsemen of course. But this was before they knew that the creatures were mine. They slaughtered them all—none were spared."

The eerie voice returned to a mellow calm. "Yes, perhaps it is best that the child was destroyed. I sensed he would grow to wield strange powers, magicks perhaps beyond control. In our hands, he would have been deadly, but such creations have a bad habit of falling to the wrong sides. He is gone and our enemies have no chance of survival!" A maniacal laughter magnified and reverberated through the chamber. "Through their own slaughter, they wrecked their only hope!"

-o-o-o-o-

_Mornie utulie;_

_Believe and you will find your way_

_Mornie alantie;_

_A promise lives within you now_

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(1) "Darkness of Many Colors"—in the books, Saruman promotes himself from 'the White' to Saruman of Many Colors. Black signifies Sauron, but it is also a color comprised of many colors. This is my way of alluding to an alliance between Mordor and Isengard.

AN: Who knows what will happen in terms of pairing. There is one that seems to "suggest" itself… but I am thinking that the focus of this fic will not be on the pairing but on friendships and relationships between all the characters.

Much thanks to all the reviewers:

**Flame Ivy Moon**

**Kail Ceannai**

**Genie05 the second**

**princess moon shadow**

**Darkdragonhime**

**Sulianna**

**koldy**

**Seren Lunar Echo**

If you have any idea what might be going on, feel free to venture a guess! I want to know how effective my hints have been. ;)

Thank you very much for reading! If you get a chance, please check out my other LotR/SM fics: "Niirer en Ithil'Quessir" and "The Gathering Starlight". Most likely I will force myself to work on other fics before updating this again, gomen. (Especially since I'm not sure where the plot will go in this fic, past a certain point). Thank you and please review!

Ja ne minna!

-Calli-chan


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